Best Way to Germinate Cannabis Seeds – 7 Way Comparison

The absolute best way to germinate cannabis seeds and why – 7 way comparison

Let’s settle once and for all. I’m tired of anecdotal, so I decided to run a side by side on a cross I made last year.

The methods I’m comparing are

Rockwool
Direct In soil
Rapid Rooters
An alfalfa sprouter
cup of water method
and 2 forms of paper towel, one laying flat and one hanging vertically.

I sifted through 250 seeds and I hand selected ones that look great. High sheen, bulbous, brown and no deformities.

Every single one of these were used inside a seedling station deluxe except for the paper towel method which was hanging.

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Now the only reason why Im doing this study, is because Im curious and theres really no verified information that proves this side by side in a controlled environment. The pH of all the water used was 5.8 and if the method required burying the seeds, it was only buried an inch down. Reverse osmosis water with hydrogen peroxide was used in all methods except for rockwool which is sterile. You could watch the exact methods of how I germinate for each on the videos on this site.

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So check it out, this is the timelapse, as you could see, the alfalfa sprouter has the first signs of sprouting but that’s because its not buried.  I’m assuming this is what’s happening in the other slots and the very first 2 seedlings to breach the surface were in the rapid rooters. Next was coco coir plugs, then the soil and finally the rockwool cubes.

At the end of day 4, I uncovered the cup of water method and you could tell the cotyledons are still completely white because of no access to light. The seed shells have all dropped off so if you have issues with helmet head, this could be a good method for you. As long as you keep the seeds submerged for enough time, you wont have any shell. Ideally, you want to plant these seeds as soon as the taproot is longer than the seed itself with the root pointing down and around only a cm below the surface.

 Now the paper towel roots seemed to be much longer than the cup of water method and the cotyledons were green. The hanging paper towel and the flat paper towel had similar lengths but the advantage of the hanging roots is that gravity directed the roots straight down which will make them much easier to bury. One of the main reasons why I don’t like paper towel methods is because at times, the roots can grow into the towel as seen here. You can gently tear it out, but I would prefer preventing  as much disruption to the roots as possible. Also, some had helmet head so you can address this by adding a drop of water that’s infused with hydrogen peroxide right on the shell to softer it.

Just like the paper towel method, the alfalfa sprouter seeds also had longer roots and I think that’s because it’s exposed to light. When you have green on the plant, that’s means it could photosynthesize and process energy which allows quicker growth and you could see this side by side, cup of water vs. alfalfa sprouter which is direct in light proving that seeds requiring darkness is a myth.  

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Just like regular sprouts, I had to rinse these a couple of times with hydrogen peroxide and water and I ended up planting all of these seeds in a single pot for the most bootleg form of pheno hunting ever. You could watch this experiment in a future video on patreon.

In conclusion, all methods work as long as you understand what youre doing, but ranks wise, If I’m aiming for the best, I’m sticking with rapid rooters.